Petra Hildebrandt, better known as "FoodFreak" among foodie bloggers, used to work in the IT business until she decided to pursue a writing career a few years ago.

In the early days, growing up in a rural household with lots of fresh organic produce, cooking wasn't so much fun but rather a means of self-defense against her grandmother's hefty, substantial cooking. Soon enough, though, this turned into a hobby, and then a passion. Fresh herbs and foreign spices entered her menu, and she indulged in the cuisines of the world. Today, this self-taught chef is an outspoken advocate of quality foods and good cooking.

Armed with a degree in multimedia production and computer savvy since the days of Commodore 16 and Apple II, she has seen many facets of the IT world. Along the line she met other food geeks on the usenet, mailing lists and the Web, who discussed marinating pork with wine and herbs, and didn't consider artichoke an elaborated insult. Meanwhile, she spent her spare time with roleplaying games, reading (especially science books and scifi) and, of course, cooking for friends - from catering to a role player community to hosting huge Thanksgiving dinners. But what she likes best about cooking is to infect others with the joy of cooking and her passion for good food. Petra lives in Hamburg with her husband, a full-scale coffee geek.

Mela Eckenfels, is a nerdy, dorky geek girl, former unix system administrator (BSD-flavoured) and passionate roleplayer, that still flips in her daily cooking agenda between 'larval stage' and the culinary geek.

Growing up a vegetarian in a meat-adoring family forced her - while attending 'gymnasium' - to take her first steps in cooking. Later in life, while living in a Berlin (squat) commune, she developed her skills for big stews. (Till her fellow housemates appealed fiercely against the daily stew.)

During her days as a freelance system administrator her cooking skills declined to dry soup mixes, sandwich toasts and Chinese fast food, until her friendship with Petra, and then a bigger kitchen at home, helped to awaken the long-buried cooking skills again. With a new love for good food, especially soul food and Japanese, Mela started to cook again - for her nerdy husband, friends and bigger groups. (Mostly catering for live-roleplaying events.) And not just stews, this time.